Occasionally (but not always) “well balanced” is a synonym for “flat”

By Devin D. O’Leary

Increasingly arresting actress Vera Farmiga (The Departed, Up in the Air) strikes out in a bold new direction, directing and starring in her first indie feature. The disarmingly intelligent spiritual drama Higher Ground is based on Carolyn S. Briggs’ memoir This Dark World: A Memoir of Salvation Found and Lost, about the author’s born-again life in an independent, evangelical Christian church. The film approaches Christianity from a very different viewpoint—neither pandering to the converted (as most religious films do) nor demonizing the religion (as many Hollywood films are apt to do).

Psycho Premiere

Aaron Hendren, the Albuquerque-based writer-director of The Faithful and the Foul and Flicker, is premiering his newest film, Psycho Bettys From Planet Pussycat, this Friday and Saturday at Guild Cinema in Nob Hill. The comic rock and roll musical traces the journey of a quartet of silver-miniskirted alien babes from a male-deprived civilization who come to Earth in search of mates. The film stars local talent Katy Houska, Hannah Kaufman, Lauren Poole and Rachel Shapiro. Cast and crew will, of course, be on hand for the big event. The show starts at 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 16 and 17. In the meantime, the film’s “dirty pop” soundtrack is available for download via iTunes and Amazon. Head on over to eggmurders.com for more info.

“The Secret Circle” on The CW

By Devin D. O’Leary

To call The CW’s new supernatural soaper “Twilight, but with witches” would be incredibly reductive. It would also be pretty darn accurate. “The Secret Circle” is custom-crafted to lure the same tweens-and-their-undersexed-moms crowd as the Twilight franchise. It’s based on a young-adult fantasy series (just like Twilight). And it’s the perfect companion piece to The CW’s current Thursday night hit, “The Vampire Diaries” (which, you guessed it, is also a supernatural teen romance based on a young-adult book series). That isn’t to say, however, that “The Secret Circle” isn’t rife with guilty pleasures.